Officers in Östersund first advised women not to walk around on their own at night, during at press conference on Monday, explaining that there had been at least six reports of violence against women in the area since February 20th.

"Now the police are going out and warning women against travelling alone in the city. We have seen a worrying trend," regional police chief Stephen Jerand told Swedish media.

"This is serious, we care about the protection of women and that is why we are going out and talking about this."

He explained that the recent reported crimes included an attempted rape in the centre of Östersund over the weekend. Police later added that they were also investigating the alleged molestation of a 10-year-old girl at a bus station.

"The solution can never be to not go out because of such a warning. We have very many women who work in home and social care at night for example. What are they supposed to do?" the city's mayor Ann-Sofie Andersson told Swedish broadcaster SVT.

Meanwhile Johan Hedin, legal affairs spokesman for one of Sweden's opposition groups, the Centre Party, argued that the move could end up scaring women.

"It's wrong if it calls on women to adapt to the criminals. It risks leading people the wrong way, if the victims must adapt to the perpetrators," he said.

"We are not limiting anyone's freedom. This is purely factual information. We went out with warnings and some have interpreted this as that we forbid women to be out in town and that's completely wrong."

In January, police in Stockholm admitted that they had covered up mass allegations of abuseby asylum seekers at a music festival, arguing that they had sought to avoid far-right sentiment being spread in the city.